PrimeSense confirms Microsoft 'Natal' design win

LONDON  PrimeSense Ltd. (Tel Aviv, Israel) a developer of a 3-D recognition sensor technology, has said it is providing the 3-D sensing technology for Project Natal for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.

Project Natal is the code name for an add-on to the Xbox that enables users to control and interact with the gaming console using gestures and spoken commands and without the need to touch a game controller. The Natal add-on box is expected to be released in November 2010 in time for the holiday buying season.

PrimeSense has been developing a combination image sensor and image processor that it has claims can give digital devices the ability to see and comprehend the world in 3D. Since soon after its foundation in 2005 the company was rumored to be engaged with Microsoft.

The PrimeSensor is built around PrimeSense's PS1080 system on a chip. The PS1080 SoC houses parallel computational logic, which receives infrared light information as an input, and which it uses as a method of determining a VGA-size depth image of the scene when correlated with a conventional 2-D optical image. The PS1080 is PrimeSense's second-generation chip and is already produced in mass-market quantities. The reference design also uses a microphone pair to provide additional information and can be used with a gesture recognition API and Natural Interaction middleware.

"We've seen tremendous excitement and anticipation for the arrival of Project Natal this holiday," said Ilan Spillinger, vice president of Xbox 360 hardware at Microsoft, in a statement. "PrimeSense has delivered an important component to the technology, helping us deliver revolutionary controller-free entertainment experiences in the living room."

"The engagement with Xbox 360 establishes PrimeSense's position as a leading supplier of 3-D sensing technology," said Inon Beracha, chief executive officer of PrimeSense, in the same statement. "We are especially honored to have a partner like Microsoft who shares our vision for bringing innovative and engaging natural experiences to consumers."